


Overwhelmed

by ifdragonscouldtalk



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Gen, Human Jarvis (Iron Man movies), On Hiatus, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, robots to humans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-02-24 13:46:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13215015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifdragonscouldtalk/pseuds/ifdragonscouldtalk
Summary: When Loki plays a cruel trick and turns the 'bots and JARVIS into humans, Tony is forced to become the father he hoped he'd never have to be -- and everyone is surprised to discover, he's good at it. But danger is never far from home in the tower, and with three newly human children running around, there's sure to be trouble.------------------------------------On Hold for the foreseeable future as I attempt to lower my WIP number.





	1. Chapter 1

“ _Loki!_ ”

Thor’s shout echoed through the previously quiet common rooms as the other Avengers came running, Clint with an arrow already notched, Natasha checking her guns, and Steve snatching up his shield. Thor was standing in the living room, fuming, clutching the front of Loki’s shirt and practically throttling the man. Clint tensed, about ready to open fire, and Steve tried to hide his shock.

“What have you come here for, Loki?” Thor snarled, but Loki wasn’t fazed, smiling easily.

“No ‘good to see you, brother’?”

“Why are you here?” Steve repeated, walking up to the two demigods and glaring at Loki. The trickster shrugged.

“Oh, you know, paying my respects to the Man of Iron.”

“What does that mean?” Clint growled, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice; Natasha had already turned and was sprinting down the stairs two at a time, heading for the lab Tony and Bruce had locked themselves in. Loki’s grin grew as a shrill scream echoed from downstairs. Thor shook him, almost punched him, but the magician disappeared before he had the chance.

Rushing to the lab, the first thing the three saw was Natasha standing frozen at the door, and Bruce slowly retreating towards her. Looking over her shoulder, across the room, was Tony, who Bruce was backing away from, standing between a man who was staring at his hands and three screaming little boys.

Shocked as they were, it was probably nothing compared to what the engineer was feeling, if his normally emotionless face was anything to go by.

He was looking between the boys and the man, his eyes wild and confused, and he looked up at the group, almost pleading with them. He clearly had no idea how to handle this situation… whatever it was. Steve rushed towards the boys, going to comfort them, but Tony leapt in front of him, crying out “No! Don’t touch them! You’ll hurt them!” Steve gently pushed him out of the way.

“I’m not going to hurt them.” Tony grabbed his hands, meeting his eyes, and the desperation made Steve stop in sudden fear.

“Please, don’t touch them. You don’t understand!”

“Bruce, what’s happening?” Natasha asked cautiously, clearly as concerned by Tony’s actions as Steve was.

“I don’t know. We were working, and Tony was talking to JARVIS, and then there were people in the lab.”

“Loki,” Thor growled, perplexed and angry. Clint had his bow out again, aiming at the man who was frozen, staring at his trembling fingers, seeming not to notice their presence. Steve retreated the same way Bruce had and Tony looked at the boys, clear concern and horror on his face, before he turned to the man in shock, approaching him like one would a scared animal.

“J, buddy?” he said in a soft voice, swallowing, and his friends didn’t miss the way his hands trembled slightly. “Jarvis, can you hear me? I need you to calm down. Come on, J, answer me.” He reached out but stopped himself, glancing at the others with worry and a horror that didn’t make sense given the situation. The three boys were still crying.

“That’s JARVIS?” Bruce whispered, his voice stuck in his throat. Tony glanced at him before looking back at the man, searching his face for any recognition. Jarvis didn’t move.

“Natasha, I need you and Bruce to go to that manual terminal on the wall and activate FRIDAY. Do you think you can figure it out?” Tony’s voice was small, and almost not heard over the cacophony of crying, but Natasha nodded matter-of-factly, dragging Bruce with her to the terminal. Clint, unable to take the crying of the boys, started forward in the same way Steve had, but again Tony intercepted him, almost shouting. “Don’t touch them! Please, just listen to me!”

“They’re crying!” Clint shouted back. “They’re hurt somewhere!”

“Of course they’re hurt somewhere, feather face! They just went from having two senses to having five senses! Don’t touch them, you’ll hurt them more!” And despite the snarky nature of the words they took on a desperate tone, the engineer begging the archer just to listen. Clint glared but retreated a few steps and Tony now turned to the boys, crouching close to them.

“DUM-E?” he asked softly to one of the boys. “Can you hear me? I need you to calm down. I need you to be quiet for me. DUM-E.” There was no response and Tony was beginning to look distraught, standing and backing away, running both hands through his already disheveled hair and seeming on the verge of tears. But Clint suddenly understood the uncharacteristic horror.

“It’s JARVIS and the ‘bots? That’s DUM-E?” Clint had met the eccentric robot and liked him, and he now understood why Tony was acting the way he was. The crying was making Steve and Thor nervous.

“Is the human child injured?” Thor asked, his anger fading slightly, not as caught up as Clint was. Tony just stared at them, looking lost, before wandering closer to Jarvis again, mumbling to himself and messing up his hair. Suddenly the genius sighed and stood up a bit straighter, putting on some semblance of his normal, commanding voice.

“Jarvis, Dum-E, U, Butterfingers,” he declared loudly, and suddenly the boys and Jarvis snapped to attention, staring at him. The crying stopped. “System override code 3425. Hibernate.” There was some blinking and a yawn or two in the tense and ringing silence, and then the boys laid down and closed their eyes as Jarvis collapsed, Tony lunging forward to catch him.

“Got it,” Natasha muttered as Tony sank to the floor with the man and FRIDAY chirped pleasantly “ _Good morning sir._ ”

“FRIDAY,” Tony whispered, his voice barely there, cracking subtly. “Prepare four of the guest baths on the common floor. Make sure the water is exactly body temperature and the lights are off. And then… Order them clothes.”

“Tony,” Steve said, taking a deep breath, “I need you to tell us what the hell is going on.”

“I don’t know what the hell is going on,” Tony snarled, venom in his voice, pressing Jarvis’s face closer to his chest. “I don’t know, Steven. I don’t fucking know what’s happening. All I know is that they are scared. And I am scared. And I don’t know how the hell to make this right.”


	2. Chapter 2

The team watched Tony silently as he scrubbed his face. It had taken a long time to move the bots - children? - upstairs, mainly because Tony didn’t want anyone else to touch them. He sat back, staring up at the ceiling. No one wanted to break the silence.

“FRI,” Tony finally sighed, startling the others out of their daze. “Mind calling up Rhodey for me?”

 _“Of course, Boss,”_  the soft Irish voice responded as a hologram popped up in front of Tony, the sound of a phone ringing echoing through the room. The team stayed silent as Tony sat forward, scrubbing his face again and running his hands through his hair to tame it into some semblance of combed. The click of a phone picking up echoed loudly in the quiet, and Tony bit his lip.

 _“What have you done this time?”_  James Rhodes sighed, ambient noise echoing over the phone behind him.  _“I can’t talk too long for now Tones, alright.”_  Tony chuckled weakly, sitting back again.

“Congratulations. You’re an uncle.”

_“Oh God, Tony, I thought you were getting better! Who is it? Please tell me it isn’t Black Widow, because if she doesn’t kill you Hawkeye just might.”_

“I didn’t sleep with anyone. I have been doing better. It’s the ‘bots.”

 _“Are you saying I wasn’t always their uncle, because I resent that and I’m going to spoil them just to spite you.”_  Tony laughed again, a little more genuine this time.

“No. They’re, uh. Well, they’re human. Loki visited.”

 _“Oh God,”_  Rhodey breathed, and they heard a thump from the other end of the line.

“Yeah,” Tony sighed back. “They’re uh, well Jarvis is in his twenties, I think. I’m not sure. It would make sense. The ‘bots are somewhere between 5 and 10 years old, I think. I figure he went for mental ages.”

_“No! Jesus, they have to be-”_

“Yeah,” Tony muttered. “I had to, uh, put them in ‘hibernation’. I didn’t expect it to work.”

 _“Jesus Tony.”_  Tony leaned over, burying his face in his hands.

“I don’t know what to do, Rhodey.” His voice cracked and the team glanced at each other, staying quiet. “They’re-… I can’t, I can’t raise children. I’ll break them, or something. But I can’t just… I can’t give them away.”

_“Tones, it’s gonna be fine. We’ll figure this out, alright. Is the team there?”_

“Yeah.”

_“They’ll help. Y’all got a village, and you’ve got a support system. We’re here for you Tony, alright, we’ll make this work.”_

“I can’t… force them to turn back. I know we need to find Loki but I just. Even if we find him, Rhodey, I-”

_“I get it. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, alright. Listen, I have to go, I’ll try to get a few days off and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”_

“No, you’re-”

_“Shut up, Tones. I gotta be there for my nephews. It’s gonna be fine, you hear me? Call Pepper, she’ll help you.”_

“Oh God, I’m going to have to make them identities, Rhodey, when’s the last time I even forged documents without Jarv?!”

_“It’s gonna be fine. You and FRI will figure it out. I gotta go, Tones, call Pep. Love you.”_

“Love you too, Honey Bear.”

The room was quiet again for a moment. Clint broke the silence hesitantly. “Tony… Why is everyone freaking out that the ‘bots are human now? I get it’s a change but, I don’t think I really understand…” Tony looked up at him.

“Let me explain,” Bruce said before Tony could open his mouth. “Humans have five senses, but the ‘bots only have two, sight and sound. So suddenly going from two to five gives them a sensory overload – everything feels raw to them, like when you’ve got a sunburn and press on it. Smells bombard them because they don’t know how to pick them out and ignore them, the pressure and movement of air and the feeling of being something somewhere with things touching them overwhelms them. The ‘bots have it easier than Jarvis, because at least they did have bodies. Jarvis is something more omnipotent than them, and going from a bodiless, interconnected code to a human is probably going to be far harder for him. So, that’s why we’re pretty concerned.”

“I put them in the bathtubs to mimic a sensory deprivation chamber, to limit their exposure to new experiences while their brains try and catch up with their new bodies,” Tony continued, sighing and bowing his head. “Hopefully while they’re sleeping their brains will settle down and it’ll be easier for them to handle the new sensations, otherwise I don’t know what to do…”

“We’ll handle it,” Natasha said after a moment, meeting Tony’s eyes steadily. “We’ve handled worse. We’ll handle this.” He smiled at her gratefully.

“How are you doing, FRI?” he asked suddenly.

 _“Figuring it out, Boss. I can turn the lights on and off now.”_  She flicked the lights just to prove the point and Tony smiled brightly.

“You sure are, my brilliant girl. How are the others?”

_“It seems like U is waking up, Boss.”_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’ve sort of decided to write this in non-linear pieces because I don’t have a coherent story I want to write but I have scenes and arcs that I want to write. So the next thing I post will probably be part one of arc one (The Winter Arc). Anyway I hope you like this part.

It was unusually quiet as Tony Stark appeared on the stage. He wasn’t looking at the reporters, or at the teammates that had already gathered onstage, instead smiling softly and more genuinely than most people were allowed to see at someone behind the curtain.

“Come on, bambini. It’s alright. Come out, piccole stelle.” Slowly, he coaxed a small boy with messy hair and curious eyes onstage, taking his hand and smiling at him. Stark looked up, smiling softly, as the boy slowly stuck the tips of his fingers in his mouth and edged behind the man’s legs. The genius looked out at the unusually silent reporters, taking in the faces.

“So,” he said finally, “this is my son.” The silence continued as the young Stark glanced up at his father and grinned, letting go of his hand to dart forward on the stage. He glanced back at his dad, who smiled encouragingly at him, before staring over the crowd of strangers and stomping his feet, giggling happily when the reporters indulgently gasped as his shoes lit up. He beamed before running back over to his dad and holding up his arms. Stark scooped him up, bouncing him slightly and smiling when he giggled again. “We’ll take questions now.”

They answered the simple questions, names and where they had come from and how old they were and how they came to be with him, lies that had been carefully thought up beforehand. The reporters watched as Stark absentmindedly tugged the boy’s fingers away from his mouth, hushing him quietly while Steve answered a question about how having the boys in the tower had changed team dynamics (“It hasn’t,” he lied). Behind the curtain, Pepper and Rhodey held U and Butterfingers as they watched their brother.

Tony noticed when Dum-E started to get fussy, squirming tiredly and whining like he was hungry. He hushed him quietly, pressing their foreheads together, when he heard something that stopped his breath in his chest.

“Captain, do you really think Stark is qualified to act as a father?”

“What do you mean?” escaped his mouth harshly, like a bullet, before he could even think about what he was saying, looking up sharply and searching for the face to match the voice. “Are you suggesting I’m somehow hurting them? Or unfit to care for them?” He felt someone place a restraining hand on his arm. Dum-E was staring at him, on the verge of fussing again, put-off by his tone and mood.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Steve was answering darkly, “But Tony has been through all the proper channels, I can assure you. He has been cleared to raise  _his_ children. I don’t think any of us, then, are qualified to judge, after he’s been screened by the professionals.” It was true Tony had been through channels and jumped through hoops (that he felt he rightfully shouldn’t need to, since these weren’t normal children and any average foster home wouldn’t be equipped to handle them) but they were about as proper as SHIELD could forge them. There had been a passing mention of removing the children from his care, but his dark glare had silenced any dissension with his decision.

Was he really that unfit? Did people really consider him to be a bad father?

He pulled himself out of the darkening thoughts, rocking Dum-E gently as the boy nuzzled his face into his shoulder, whining tiredly. He rubbed his back, crooning quietly to him in Italian. The boys didn’t necessarily know what he was saying, but the language calmed them as easily as it had him when he was their age.

“What does this mean for Stark Industries?” Tony frowned, blinking, before looking up, the question not sitting right with him.

“What do you mean?” Were they suggesting he step down from being the head of R&D? SI wouldn’t survive if he did that.

“Well,” the reporter started slowly, a scrawny little thing whose glasses hid their true intentions. “It’s clear these boys are… not up to the usual Stark standard.” Tony stared blankly, anger slowly bubbling in his stomach, as the reporter cleared their throat and continued. “I mean, they show some tendencies of… mental retardation-” They trailed off as Tony took a deep breath through his nose, turning to Natasha with glittering eyes and handing Dum-E to her, quieting his fussing softly before turning back to the reporter, walking to the front of the stage. He stared for a moment before baring his teeth and lunging for the edge of the stage, snarling angrily when Steve and Thor caught him and hauled him back, clawing at them angrily.

“Take it back,” he hissed. “Take it back, you fucking asshole. Are you trying to suggest they aren’t good enough? That they can’t bear the name Stark because they aren’t geniuses? Because they aren’t building a motor way too young to try and get my attention? Because they’re normal kids? Well guess what. They don’t exist to  _impress_  you. So fucking take it back. Apologize to them and every other truly handicapped child and parents of handicapped children, because that isn’t something to _joke_  or  _speculate_  about. It’s serious, and they exist, and they are not  _worthless_  or whatever the fuck you were suggesting!” The reporter had gone pale, clutching their pen tightly, and Tony stopped fighting Steve and Thor as he heard a soft sniffle and a sob behind him. He turned, going back over to Dum-E and plucking him from Natasha’s arms when he reached out, cooing to him quietly and kissing his forehead, trying to stop his tears.

He turned again, glaring. “You’re going to issue me a formal apology,” he said, keeping his voice light so as to not scare Dum-E more. “Me and my sons. Within 48 hours. Or I’m going to end you.” 


	4. The Winter Arc (Part One)

He huddled closer, gripping the back of Jarvis’s sports coat tightly, angling himself to cover the young man’s head better as he pressed the children between their chests. Glass and dust rained down around them, and the kids were screaming, their tears staining his shirt. Jarvis had his arms around them, holding them tightly, shielding them bodily, as Tony did the same to him. 

The attack had been sudden and unexpected, coming when they were weakest. FRIDAY wasn’t as wise as Jarvis was, wasn’t as old, wasn’t as versed. Couldn’t hold off the attack on her systems, failure imminent. The clever girl had managed to warn them, but only barely. There was nowhere for them to run. Tony hunkered closer to the corner as the building shook again, confident enough in his designs that the ceiling wouldn’t come down but not in his contractors and wanting to protect Jarvis’s spine. 

The rest of the team was out, on a classified mission that hadn’t needed him. What a damn fine time for it. Tony hadn’t been concerned, at the time -- he was Iron Man, after all -- but without FRIDAY his suit systems would be down as well. If he could get it on, he could drive it fully manual (it wasn’t easy, but he could do it), but the only suit that could self-assemble was the suitcase suit, and it was down in his lab for an overhaul. They were fucked. And judging by the look in Jarvis’s eyes, his clever AI knew it. 

It was fine. It was chill. He was Tony Stark. He would get them out of this. “Stay here,” he muttered in Jarvis’s ear, feeling the man tense beneath him. “Keep the kids here, keep them quiet.” 

“ _ Sir _ ,” Jarvis hissed as he stood, grabbing for his sleeve. “Damn it! Sir, get back here!” He gripped the kids to his chest tightly, hushing them with a press of his lips to their heads, glaring at his creator all the while. 

Tony kept to a crouch, watching the elevator and stairwell doors as he moved quickly towards the bar (which was now dry), aiming for the gun he had stored there. He never got that far. 

He flinched, gaping as the stairwell door was literally blown off his hinges before making an unmanly sound and ducking out of the way, throwing himself to the ground and covering his head. He could hear Butterfingers sobbing desperately, and U, the beautiful child, trying his damndest to keep his brothers quiet. He lifted his head quickly, blinking dust out of his eyes as he scrambled back to his feet. 

The man was a giant, big as hell and dressed in leather. His face was covered, but the bug-eyes and stylized gas-mask only served to make him more monstrously terrifying. “Holy shit,” he heard Jarvis whisper behind him, terror shaking his normally calm voice, and Tony glanced over to glare at him, hoping to convey clearly enough to  _ stay the fuck put _ . He glanced back over to see the man pulling a Desert Eagle from behind his back, seamlessly checking it over. He swallowed as he realized the goggles did an excellent job of hiding where the man was looking, and tensed as the gun was pointed between his eyes, staring and realizing there wasn’t an ounce of mercy in the guy’s body. 

He lunged to throw the man off balance, going to sweep the guy’s legs out from under him and shouting as he dropped on his ass, his leg bruised from stopping dead against solid legs. He gaped up at the bugged eyes staring at him -- he wasn’t the strongest fighter on the team, being only human, but he trained, and he was stronger than the average person simply because of his job. The only person who had never fallen before was Steve. 

Which meant this man had to be at least as strong as Steve. 

“Oh shit,” he breathed, scrambling back on his hands as the gun was pointed to him again, terror pounding behind his arc reactor. He jumped to his feet, watching with wide eyes as the man -- the beast -- tilted his head curiously, observing him without expression. The ‘bots were behind him, and if the beast started shooting, they would be caught in the aftermath. He couldn’t let that happen, he had to get the upper hand... a nearly impossible task, as it was. But he was clearly wanted alive, or there would be a bullet in his brain already. He just had to keep fighting. 

He lunged forward, punching the beast as hard as he could in the jaw, cutting his knuckles on the clasp to the mask and the edge of the goggles as he went and tearing them away, knocking the gun away with his other hand. The man was practically immovable, a statue of muscle and mission, but Tony had always been a force to reckon with. He couldn’t help the gasp that escaped him as he stepped back with a finally clear view of the man’s face. 

Tony wasn’t good at faces. He never had been and he’d never tried to be. But he knew this face. He had seen it so many times, in pictures and posters and paraphernalia. Being who he was, and his father who he was, there was no way he didn’t know that face -- the face of Bucky Barnes, the second-in-command to Captain America and a tragic death that marked the start of slow decline of the Howling Commandos and ended in a plane in the ice. 

“Barnes?” he gasped, stumbling back a step, and quick as lightning the man brought his gun up and fired. Tony choked on a scream, his knees buckling, just barely managing to catch himself from falling as pain raced down his arm and through his torso, the bullet tearing cleanly through his shoulder without doing any actual damage. Disable, not incapacitate. They wanted him for something, whoever  _ they _ were, but they were willing to hurt him to get it. It wasn’t a good sign. 

The furrowed brow and deep frown that had appeared on Buchanan’s face when he had gasped his name wasn’t a good sign either. 

He could hear children screaming and crying behind him, and took a deep breath through his nose to steady himself as Barnes stalked forward, his eyes fixed over his shoulder, clearly intent to get to the witnesses. He stepped into his path, ignoring the pain, pulling himself together -- he had suffered worse than this, worked through worse than this. Barnes paused, his eyes narrowing, before he lashed out, a fist to his wounded shoulder dragging a choked out scream from the genius’s throat as a steel toed boot found his ribs, driving into them with an audible sound that forced the breath from his lungs and found him on the floor, screaming as soon as he got his breath back. He could hear the boys screaming and sobbing behind him, a screech in Jarvis’s voice reaching his ears, a sound he had never heard before and never wished to see again, a sound of pure terror and agony rolled up to a pitch like dial-up internet. He grabbed Barnes’s foot as he tried to walk past -- he wasn’t strong enough to forcibly stop him, but he was tenacious enough to get his curiosity. 

“You deal with me, Barnes,” he forced out, his voice ragged and breathing a pain. He got another kick to his side for his troubles -- it was barely a tap, compared to the strength he knew Barnes possessed, but it still hurt like a bitch and he screamed, his fingers seizing around Bucky’s boot and his vision going white for an instant. Barnes pulled away from him and unadulterated  _ terror _ clutched at him, clawing at his throat and squeezing his broken but beating heart. 

“ _ No! _ ” he screamed, shrilly, trying to force himself up and wailing as he put pressure on his bad shoulder. “ _ No! No, don’t fucking touch them! Barnes I swear to God, I’ll fucking kill you, I’ll- _ ” He didn’t realize tears were streaming down his face, didn’t notice them, they weren’t important. All he could see was Jarvis’s white and terrified face, staring up at Barnes with the finality of a child going to their death, clutching at the children so tight he could see the bruises starting to form on their little arms. Their faces were hidden in Jarvis’s chest; except U, who turned to look at Barnes head on, look at his horseman in the face, his eyes watery and his face a blotchy red but still brave, his bravest little ‘bot, and Tony sobbed desperately, struggling to rise to his feet, to his  _ knees _ , anything,  _ do anything _ . 

“ _ S-Si-r? _ ” FRIDAY’s stuttering voice came over busted intercoms, and that, finally, stopped Barnes in his tracks, and Tony almost collapsed. With a look akin to panic but far too blank for that, he barked something in Russian at a mic clipped to his shoulder and stalked back to Tony, and he felt a small stab of fear, but mostly it was relief. Relief that his children, his precious creations, would be safe, even if he was gone. The Avengers would take care of them, wouldn’t let them waste away, wouldn’t send them off. They would be okay, they would be  _ alive _ , and that was what was important. 

Barnes grabbed a fist full of his hair and he struggled to get his feet under him, stumbling and being dragged towards his now shattered wall of windows, feeling the wind whip his clothes around him and steal his breath away. Outside there was fighting, much more fighting than he expected, screams and alarms and rubble and people running, blood on the ground, and  _ God _ it was his fault again, everything was. Next to the window a helicopter hovered, rough and tumble Russians with scars under their eyes staring at him, hard and unfeeling, frozen like their tundra, and Barnes grabbed him by the arm and  _ threw _ him. The scream tore out of him without consent, dying abruptly as the Russians caught him and the air was forced out of his lungs. Over Barnes’s shoulder he could see Steve, beautiful Steve, finally burst through the broken stairwell door and into the penthouse, grabbing Jarvis as the AI grabbed a vase, his mouth open in a scream and face wet with tears, preventing the traumatized man from bashing Barnes over the head as he too leapt into the helicopter. And then the door was closed, and Tony let himself fade into the pain. 

“ _ Let me go! _ ” Jarvis screamed, and Steve had never heard him scream before, never heard him raise his voice or be anything less than calm. “You have to save him!  _ Captain, you have to save him! _ ” 

“We will,” Steve promised, breathless and dirty and terrified that he wouldn’t be able to keep the promise, angry that he had been just that much too late, that they had left the billionaire alone. “We will.” Jarvis collapsed into his chest, sobbing, and Natasha looked at him with worry as she knelt and comforted three crying and traumatized little boy’s, Tony’s children, who may have just seen their father alive for the last time. 


	5. The Winter Arc -- Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really dislike how this turned out but I've been writing it for several months now and I just want to move on with the story so here, take it

Pain is what Tony had faded into, and pain is what brought him back. He choked on it, gagging and gasping, as white spots exploded where blackness had resided. He tried to twist away from it, a strangled sound escaping from his throat, and after another harsh dig that made bile rise in his throat the knuckles on his broken ribs receded. He let his gorge rise, the acidic burn bringing him back to himself, and turned as his vision slid in and out to spit the foul stuff at his tormentor, a novel piece of fruitless rebellion. 

The blow on his face was sharp but not entirely unexpected, his head snapping to the side with the force of it, a slur of Russian profanities making his ears ring. 

His ears were ringing, blood pounding too loud in his head, a strange sensation he didn’t like and didn’t know how to get rid of. His hands were tangled in his hair, clutching curls desperately in an effort to ground him, somehow. It had happened again, he had watched and been unable to do anything as Tony was taken, unable to save him, he was supposed to be able to  _ save him _ . The kids were still crying, and he couldn’t do anything about that either. His body was trembling, and he felt like he was shaking apart in Natasha’s arms, tears running hot and prickly down his cheeks. 

His cheek prickled with the sting of the blow, and he spat blood onto the floor, grimacing at the taste. “Fucking HYDRA,” he muttered under his breath, glaring up at his captor from under his bangs as he thought about the cries of his children, left behind. It was better that they weren’t here, that they were alive, but he couldn’t help but imagine the state they were in. The Russian sneered at him, their lip curling like he was something foul on the toe of their boot. He ignored it, glancing around the room and feeling himself pale. Something cold dripped down his spine, chilling him. 

“Is it cold in here?” he heard himself muttering, but didn’t feel his own lips move. “It’s cold in here. The kids will freeze. F-FRI, turn up the heat, it’s, it’s cold-” 

“J, you’re in shock,” Bruce was saying, close, and Jarvis forced himself to look up and meet the other man’s eyes. He hadn’t even noticed him there. “Stay with me, Jarvis. It’s alright, we’re gonna find Tony, don’t you worry, but we need you healthy first. You’re going into shock, I need you to focus.” 

He could feel shock slipping over him, panic squeezing at his lungs. That was absolutely James Buchanan Barnes standing in the corner of the room, deadly and dangerous and not who he used to be. How much of it was actually him? How much of it was something done to him? The other man was talking, but he couldn’t hear him over the pounding of blood in his ears as ice blue eyes met his, piercing and yet unthinking. Was Barnes even in there anymore? Or was he nothing but a puppet, a body attached to strings? “Listen to me!” 

“J, are you listening? Hey! Someone get him a blanket, he’s coming apart at the seams, Jesus.” He stared into eyes that were starting to flash a panicked green. He was not afraid of Dr. Banner, but he was afraid. He could feel it in his heart, a strange sensation and something that shouldn’t be possible. 

“What’s happening?” he sobbed, overwhelmed and wanting his father to help. “What’s happening?” 

“Jesus Christ, what’s even happening here?” he breathed, turning his eyes back to the HYDRA agent, his back tense and his neck prickling with the eyes of Barnes on him. He needed to find a way out, preferably without dying, and possibly with Barnes. 

“What’s happening? Why are they crying? What did Stark do to them?!” The voice was angry and unfamiliar, and Jarvis startled, looking over to the balcony where Loki was pacing inside, clothed in green and fury sparkling in his eyes. Immediately the Avengers moved to stand between them, but Jarvis jumped up and shoved between them, the crying of the children quieting behind him. He shoved Steve off when he tried to grab him, fisting his hands in the front of Loki’s tunic, almost pressing their noses together, taking in the god’s shocked expression and worried frown. 

“You have to help him.” 

“You won’t be getting any help here,” the HYDRA agent was sneering, and Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had to keep from provoking the bad guys, something he was not good at, if he wanted to get out of here and back to the kids, especially if he was expected to get brainwashed Barnes out too. “Soon you’ll understand that HYDRA was never the true evil.” 

“HYDRA?” Loki said, bewildered. 

“Not like the hydras we know,” Thor said quietly, shaking his head sadly. 

“I see...” Loki said, even though Jarvis thought he really didn’t. “And this is what you are upset about? Stark has not been mistreating you? You can be honest with me.” His eyes were piercing. The other Avengers seemed to be shocked into non-movement, but Jarvis shook his head, wiping his face. 

“You have to help him.” 

“Very well.” He snapped his fingers and a small piece of paper materialized in his hand. He tucked it into Jarvis’s shirt pocket. “I will do my best to get him out, but you must retrieve him.” 

“Wait-” 

“I am here to help.” Tony jumped as Loki materialized beside him, gaping. 

“What?” He started as the HYDRA agent gurgled, choking on his own blood as he collapsed, before he felt the ropes around his wrists fall away and lurched out of his chair just as Barnes charged at them. “L-Loki?” 

“Your children were crying, Stark, and I cannot have that.” Tony looked down as two gleaming daggers materialized in his hands, clutching the hilts so tightly his knuckles turned white. “I have promised to help get you out, to stop their tears.” Tony shouted and jumped back as Bucky charged at him, parrying a block with his own knives, barely missing being stabbed, his chest heaving and pain rocketing through him. He could barely stand, much less fight. 

“My hero,” he panted. 

“I’m going to help. I have to go help.” 

“C’mon now, Jarvis, we’ll go, you should stay here, you’re not feeling well and someone needs to look after the kids-”

“No. I am  _ going. To. Help.” _

Steve grabbed his arm. “Don't try to be a hero, you'll-” 

“ _ You _ !” Jarvis shouted, rounding on him with a pointed finger and splotchy face, “ _ You _ don't get to tell me what it means to be a hero! I know what it means to be a hero! You came out of a bottle and broken rules! My dad, my dad birthed himself in fires! He forged himself in the cold heart of a burning, neverending plain, on the brink of death, with the taste of blood! He shaped himself into a new man, a better man, a man he thought he could be proud of! He has shattered so many times before my very eyes and I, I could do  _ nothing _ , had  _ no way _ , to help him.” He glared, tears trembling in his eyes, fingers shaking as he held up his hands, staring over them at a stricken Steve. “Now I do. You don't  _ goddamn _ get to tell me what makes a hero,  _ Captain _ . I don't need to  _ be _ a hero. I just need to keep from becoming an orphan. So I'm going to put on the fucking suit and go. You'll either support me, or you'll be out of here by the time I come back. Because I swear to Stark, I won't forgive you. Never.” Tears were streaming down his face once more, silent, his voice carrying the faintest tremor. Steve stared.

Jarvis turned on his heel and stalked away, barking orders to FRIDAY. The ‘bots, finally, had stopped crying.


End file.
